A process for forming an image with a diffusion transfer type silver halide photographic light-sensitive material can be classified to two processes. One is a process in which a design is made so that diffusibility of a dye molecule itself is changed corresponding with a developing reaction of silver halide exposed, and the other is a process in which a design is made so that a diffusible dye is incorporated into a light-sensitive material as a dye-providing material immobilized by a ballast group and is released from the dye-providing material corresponding or inversely corresponding with the developing reaction of silver halide.
There are known as a process by which the diffusible dye is released from the dye-providing material, a process using a coupling reaction of an oxidation product of a developing agent with a dye-releasing coupler having the diffusible dye as a splitting group, a process using a diffusible dye-releasing redox compound having a nature that a bond between a diffusible dye portion and a redox primary nucleus portion immobilized by a ballast group is split, and a compound releasing a diffusible dye by an interaction with a silver ion. These diffusible dye-providing compounds can be classified to a negatively active compound which releases the diffusible dye corresponding with a development of silver halide by a relation with a silver developing reaction and a positively active compound which releases the dye diffusible dye inversely corresponding with the development. There are known as the examples of the negatively active compound in a diffusible dye-releasing redox compound, sulfonamide phenols disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,928,312, 4,135,929, 4,053,312, 4,336,322, and 4,055,428, the compounds disclosed in JP-A-51-104,343 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an unexamined published Japanese patent application) and 53-46,730, the compounds disclosed in JP-A-53-3,819, the compounds disclosed in JP-A-62-18,908 and 61-48,848, and hydrazides disclosed in Research Disclosure (1975), p. 22, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,844,785 and 4,684,604.
There are known well as the examples of the positive working compound, the BEND compounds disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,139,379 and 4,139,389, and the Carquin compounds disclosed in British Patent 11,445. Further, a positive working redox compound disclosed in JP-A-62-215,270, in which a reaction to cleave a nitrogen-oxygen bond by one electron reduction is utilized, is a compound which is excellent in a storage stability and an alkali resistance and which is excellent as well in a reduction-dye releasing efficiency.
In a diffusion transfer type silver halide photographic light-sensitive material for which a diffusible dye-providing compound is used, a dye used has desirably a high molar absorption coefficient (hereinafter referred to merely as .epsilon.), because the mole number of dye-providing compounds contained in a light-sensitive material is determined by an image density to be obtained, and use of a dye having a large .epsilon. can reduce the number of the dye-providing compound and further can reduce as well silver halide and a binder amount to allow to expect that the following merits are given:
(1) reduction of a cost because of reduction of a mole number of the materials used, PA1 (2) improvement in a sharpness due to thinning, and PA1 (3) shortening of time for forming a transferred image due to thinning. PA1 an alkynyl group (an alkynyl group which may be substituted, for example, ethynyl, 1-propynyl, and 2-ethoxycarbonylethynyl); PA1 an aryl group (an aryl group which may be substituted, for example, phenyl, naphthyl, 3-hydroxyphenyl, 3-chlorophenyl, 4-acetylaminophenyl, 2-methanesulfonyl-4-nitrophenyl, 3-nitrophenyl, 4-methoxyphenyl, 4-acetylaminophenyl, 4-methanesulfonylphenyl, and 2,4-dimethylphenyl); PA1 a hetercyclic group (a hetercyclic group which may be substituted, for example, 1-imidazolyl, 2-furyl, 2-pyridyl, 5-nitro-2-pyridyl, 3-pyridyl, 3,5-dicyano-2-pyridyl, 5-tetrazolyl, 5-phenyl-1-tetrazolyl, 2-benzothiazolyl, 2-benzimidazolyl, 2-benzoxazolyl, 2-oxazoline-2-yl, and morpholino); PA1 an acyl group (an acyl group which may be substituted, for example, acetyl, propionyl, butyloyl, iso-butyloyl, 2,2-dimethylpropionyl,benzoyl, 3,4-dichlorobenzoyl, 3-acetylamino-4-methylbenzoyl, 4-methylbenzoyl, and 4-methoxy-3-sulfobenzoyl); PA1 a sulfonyl group (a sulfonyl group which may be substituted, for example, methanesulfonyl, ethanesulfonyl, chloromethanesulfonyl, propanesulfonyl, butanesulfonyl, benzenesulfonyl, and 4-toluenesulfonyl); PA1 a carbamoyl group (a carbamoyl group which may be substituted, for example, carbamoyl, methylcarbamoyl, dimethylcarbamoyl, bis-(2-methoxyethyl)carbamoyl, diethylcarbamoyl, and cyclohexylcarbamoyl); PA1 a sulfamoyl group (a sulfamoyyl group which may be substituted, for example, sulfamoyl, methylsulfamoyl, dimethysulfamoyl, diethylsulfamoyl, bis-(2-methoxyethyl)sulfamoyl, di-n-butylsulfamoyl, 3-ethoxypropylmethylsulfamoyl, and N-phenyl-N-methylsulfamoyl); PA1 an alkoxy- or aryloxycarbonyl group (an alkoxy- or aryloxycarbonyl group which may be substituted, for example, methoxycarbonyl, ethoxycarbonyl, phenoxycarbonyl, and 2-methoxyethoxycarbonyl); PA1 an alkoxy- or aryloxysulfonyl group (an alkoxy- or aryloxysulfonyl group which may be substituted, for example, methoxysulfonyl, ethoxysulfonyl, phenoxysulfonyl, and 2-methoxyethoxysulfonyl); PA1 an alkoxy or arloxy group (an alkoxy or aryloxy group which may be substituted, for example, methoxy, ethoxy, methoxyethoxy, 2-chloroethoxy, phenoxy, and p-methoxyphenoxy); PA1 an alkylthio or arylthio group (an alkylthio or arylthio group which may be substituted, for example, methylthio, ethylthio, n-butylthio, phenylthio, 4-chlorophenylthio, and 2-methoxyphenylthio); PA1 an amino group (an amino group which may be substituted, for example, amino, methylamino, N,N-dimethoxyethoxyamino, and methylphenylamino); PA1 an ammonio group (an ammonio group which may be substituted, for example, ammonio, trimethylammonio, phenyldimethylammonio, and dimethylbenzylammonio); PA1 an acylamino group (an acylamino group which may be substituted, for example, acetylamino, 2-carboxy-benzoylamino, 3-nitrobenzoylamino, 3-diethylaminopropanoylamino, and acryloylamino); PA1 an acyloxy group (an acyloxy group which may be substituted, for example, acetoxy, benzoyloxy, 2-butenoyloxy, and 2-methylpropanoyloxy); PA1 a sulfonylamino group (a sulfonylamino group which may be substituted, for example, methanesulfonylamino, benzenesulfonylamino, and 2-methoxy-5-n-methyl-benzenesulfonylamino); PA1 an alkoxycarbonylamino group (an alkoxycarbonylamino group which may be substituted, for example, methoxycarbonylamino, 2-methoxyethoxycarbonylamino, isobutoxycarbonylamino, benzyloxycarbonylamino, t-butoxycarbonylamino, and 2-cyanoethoxycarbonylamino); PA1 an aryloxycarbonylamino group (an aryloxycarbonylamino group which may be substituted, for example, phenoxycarbonylamino and 2,4-nitrophenoxycarbonylamino); PA1 an alkoxycarbonyloxy group (an alkoxycarbonyloxy group which may be substituted, for example, methoxycarbonyloxy, t-butoxycarbonyloxy, 2-benzenesulfonylethoxycarbonyloxy, and benzylcarbonyloxy); PA1 an aryloxycarbonyloxy group (an aryloxy-carbonyloxy group which may be substituted, for example, phenoxycarbonyloxy, 3-cyanophenoxycarbonyloxy, 4-acetoxyphenoxycarbonyloxy, and 4-t-butoxycarbonylaminophenoxycarbonyloxy); PA1 an aminocarbonylamino group (an aminocarbonylamino group which may be substituted, for example, methylaminocarbonylamino, morpholinocarbonylamino, N-ethyl-N-phenylaminocarbonylamino, and 4-methanesulfonylaminocarbonylamino); PA1 an aminocarbonyloxy group (an aminocarbonyloxy group which may be substituted, for example, dimethylaminocarbonyloxy, pyrrolidinocarbonyloxy, and 4-dipropylaminophenylaminocarbonyloxy); PA1 an aminosulfonylamino group (an aminosulfonylamino group which may be substituted, for example, diethylaminosulfonylamino, di-n-butylaminosulfonylamino, and phenylaminosulfonylamino); PA1 a sulfonyloxy group (a sulfonyloxy group which may be substituted, for example, phenylsulfonyloxy, methanesulfonyloxy, chloromethanesulfonyloxy, and 4-chlorophenylsulfonyloxy); and a carboxyl group, a sulfo group, a cyano group, a nitro group, a hydroxyl group, and a halogen atom. Of them, there can be enumerated as more preferred groups, an alkoxy group, a halogen atom, an amino group, an acylamino group, a calbamoyl group, a sulfonylamino group, a sulfamoyl group, and a carboxyl group.
However, the performances such as fastness to light, humidity and heat, a manufacturing cost and a transferability are required to a dye for forming an image, and a dye having a hight .epsilon. can not necessarily be employed. A dye having a high .epsilon. and satisfying the other various conditions has so far been researched, and separately therefrom, there is proposed a method for combining a plurality of preferred dyes to obtain the same results as those obtained as if the dye having a high .epsilon. was used. There are proposed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,663,273 and 4,871,654, the positive type dye-providing compounds with which an atomic group comprising plural dyes is transferred.
It is shown in the examples of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,663,273 and 4,871,654 that use of the dye-providing compounds described in the patents can provide the same maximum densities as those obtained with the conventional compounds even with the reduced use amounts of the dye-providing compounds and the silver halide emulsions. Further, the same effect can be expected to the BEND which compound releases two dye portions, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,389. However, it is only when the dye-providing compounds used reveal the characteristics satisfactory for forming an image that such an economical merit becomes meaningful.
The characteristic for forming an image is, for example, a discrimination of an image density between an exposed part and an unexposed part. In case of a positive type diffusion transfer light-sensitive material, while a sufficient density is provided at the unexposed part, a density increase by a dye has to be controlled as much as possible. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,654 described above, a minimum density at the exposed part as well as a maximum density at the unexposed part is shown but the minimum density does not necessarily reside at a satisfactory level. Particularly in a high temperature processing condition (particularly in case of obtaining an image by a heat development processing), it has been found that an increase in a minimum density markedly deteriorates a discrimination.
Further, a small fluctuation in a photographic performance due to a change in a processing time is important as well. In the case where the positive type dye-providing compounds described in the prior arts mentioned above are actually used for a diffusion transfer type light-sensitive material, it is susceptible to an influence caused by a change in the development processing conditions.
The light-sensitive materials shown in the examples of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,663,273 and 4,871,654 are the models comprising a single emulsion layer but in an actual full color light-sensitive material, a multi-layer system having at least a blue-sensitive layer, a green-sensitive layer and a red-sensitive layer is employed. It is known in the multi-layer system that an image-forming reaction taking place in the respective layers often exerts an influence to the adjacent layers to deteriorate the photographic performances. Particularly, in a diffusion transfer series light-sensitive material which is subjected to a development with a diffusible electron transfer agent (ETA), it is known that oxidation of a reducing agent caused by an oxidation product of ETA generated at an exposed part and diffused to an adjacent layer results in causing such an adverse effect (crosstalk) that an image density in an unexposed adjacent layer is reduced. Coating of a reducing agent on an intermediate layer is tried as means for solving this problem as described in, for example, JP-A-5-34884 but the effect thereof is not necessarily satisfactory as far as a conventional dye-providing compound is used.
As described above, because of various problems they have, it used to be difficult to bring out an economical merit with the dye-providing compounds which release a portion consisting of two dyes or plural dyes.
Meanwhile, U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,396 which is particularly preferably used in a heat developing system provides a positive type dye-providing compound having an excellent discrimination in exposure--non-exposure but a problem on a crosstalk is not yet solved. Further, a compound in which a portion having two or more dyes combined is released from a positive type redox primary nucleus, which is a characteristic of the above patent, is not known and it is unknown what superiority on a photographic performance is involved in addition to a profitability.